June 2025
At last month’s Scaling Deep workshop with Dusseldorp Forum, we explored this question alongside an incredible group of practitioners, funders, and evaluators working at the heart of place-based change in Australia.
As part of a panel facilitated by Tatiana Fraser, CFI’s Sarah Callaghan shared three key reflections on what CFI is learning about what helps to scale deep:
1. Depth of capability when scaling up, out, and deep—all at once
When organisations scale policy up and out, they need the capacity to hold practice while delivering strategy and building new structures and governance. It’s not just about growth—it’s about alignment. Power holders must lead the alignment of practice, strategy, and governance under increasing pressure to deliver.
This demands not only depth—but also breadth—of capability across teams.
Scaling up and out—through levers like policy change or scaling programs in complex environments—requires more than the technical fix and a growth agenda. Power holders, including funders and government, must also focus on and develop the capability for the practice itself to scale. In both local community systems and broader systems change agendas, such as in health and education, we often see a misalignment between the intended purpose and strategy for scaling and the governance and practice capabilities needed to make this work.
2. Embedding wellbeing isn’t optional—it’s a condition for lasting change
Shifting power is demanding work, and it tends to move more slowly when it challenges dominant norms. When this reality isn’t reflected in timeframes, funding (e.g., one year vs five years), or team design—and when the work is centred on one or two individuals instead of distributed across teams—it can lead to burnout and high turnover. That, in turn, stalls progress and forces the work to restart again and again.
That’s why embedding the conditions for wellbeing across a community or initiative is essential. It builds coherence in practice that’s shared, sustainable, and not reliant on a few key leaders.
3. Systems learning that drives shared accountability
Scaling deep requires all partners—especially those with power—to stay accountable to the shared purpose. That means moving beyond performance-based evaluations that focus on just one part of the system.
Instead, it’s about recognising everyone’s contribution and creating the conditions for collective learning. Not just funders learning from the outside—but all partners learning together, from within.
Tatiana Fraser’s insights from her recent inquiry into evaluating scaling deep brought valuable perspective—on what we measure, why it matters, and who gets to decide.
We were grateful to contribute to a group that truly embodied the practice: connecting deeply, sharing openly, and learning together.
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